Friday, November 9, 2012

Since my switch to a Samsung Galaxy S3, while the battery life is slightly better than my iPhone 4, I have increasingly found the 2100mAh battery insufficient. It is a vicious cycle that once you have better battery life, you end up using more of the smartphone functions, and what was once enough becomes unbearable.
Recently, I came across a battery accessory that appears to promise a quantum leap in battery life. It is a thicker replacement 4300mAh battery with a customised S3 backcover in order to accommodate the extra battery thickness.

At a price of $19.90 (available from the online Singapore marketeer Gmarket), I thought this would be the answer. The only downside was that it did not appear to be an NFC-enabled battery. However, the NFC feature was not important for me.

The customised backcover comes in choices of white or matte purple, and the white version matches with my S3.

Some people might be put off by the increased resultant thickness. However, I found it easier to actually hold the phone now and the battery does not add significantly more weight. The backcover is also plastic and practically weightless.

Some customers at Gmarket has complained that their case was damaged during postal delivery. Fortunately, this did not happen during my purchase. However, at this price, the vendor did not provide any fanciful protective packaging. My purchase arrived in bubblewrap inside a normal brown envelope. Some of you might even be able to obtain a better price if you have coupons from Gmarket for being their VIP customers.